Meningitis and encephalitis are inflammatory, often infectious, processes of the central nervous system that can result in significant morbidity and mortality. Prompt, appropriate therapy is crucial, but determining the infectious etiology can be difficult and time-consuming. A wide-range of pathogens can be involved including both bacteria and viruses. Culture is the standard for diagnosis of bacterial Meningoencephalitis (ME), PCR of viral nucleic acid is the standard for aseptic causes. However the current methods are either 1) too slow to be clinically relevant; 2) technically complex; 3) limited in the number of targets r 4) not cleared by the FDA. Idaho Technology (ITI) has developed a lab in a pouch PCR-based diagnostic system termed FilmArray that is rapid, easy to use, and can test for large panels of infectious agents simultaneously. A FilmArray pouch that can detect 15 respiratory pathogens was cleared by the FDA as a CLIA moderate complexity test. We propose to apply the FilmArray technology to the problem of ME diagnosis. SA1: Develop a FilmArray Meningoencephalitis (FAME) panel: We will construct a FilmArray pouch that combines PCR assays from existing panels with five new assays to detect the following ME-causing organisms directly from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF): Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli, Enterococcus species, H. influenza, L. monocytogenes, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, N. meningitidis, P. aeruginosa, Staphylococci species, S. aureus, Streptococcus species, S. agalactiae, S. pneumoniae, S. pyogenes, viridians streptococci, Adenovirus, Enterovirus, Parechovirus, HSV1, HSV2, VZV, EBV, CMV, HHV-6. SA2: Optimize nucleic acid extraction for virus and bacteria from CSF: CSF is one of the less complex sample matrices that have been processed on the FilmArray (when compared to nasal swabs, blood culture and stool). However, detecting bacteria, and virus, directly from CSF, may require the highest possible sensitivity. We will optimize the nucleic acid purification steps internal to the pouch as well as investigate simple steps to concentrate bacteria and viruses before the pouch SA3: Test the FAME panel on 300 CSF samples: Our collaborators will test CSF samples from pediatric and adult patients with suspected ME. We will compare these results to their standard assays performed on the samples, supplemented with the results of the comparator assays described in SA1. A successful outcome of this proposal will be a FilmArray pouch capable of detecting and identifying the common ME pathogens. It will be ready for the analytical and clinical trials necessary for a 510(k) submission to the FDA. This would be the subject of a future phase II submission.